ANTALYA, Turkey, May 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Syria and Iran, as President Donald Trump makes a diplomatic tour of Gulf states.

Rubio, who broke away from Trump's trip to join NATO talks in Turkey, told reporters he discussed the war in Gaza and voiced alarm over the humanitarian situation as Israel blocks food and other supplies from entering the Palestinian territory.

Rubio "stressed the deep US commitment to its historic relationship with Israel and the ironclad US support for Israeli security", State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

She also said Rubio and Netanyahu "discussed Syria following President Trump's historic meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia".

Rubio and the Israeli leader "also shared their mutual commitment to make sure Iran never possesses a nuclear weapon," she said.

While in Qatar earlier on Thursday, Trump said he hoped to avoid war with Iran, which he said had agreed to US terms on a nuclear deal.

Trump has pursued diplomacy with Iran in the hope of preventing a threatened Israeli strike on the cleric-run state's contested nuclear programme.

Israel has taken a pessimistic view of Syria's new leadership and pressed strikes to decimate its military capacities.

Earlier this week, Trump said the United States would lift sanctions on Syria.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia had pressed Trump to forge ties with Sharaa, a former Islamist guerrilla who led a rebel coalition that in December overthrew Syrian strongman and Iran ally Bashar al-Assad.